Better In Time
by Lil Miss Chuckles
Summary: No spoilers - this is the way I would have wrote the season 4 premiere reunion between Chuck and Blair.


The cab pulled up against the curb as Blair waved goodbye to Serena.

"Catch you later, ma cherie!" giggling, Blair swung her purse over her shoulder before opening the cab door and stepping in.

She smiled to herself as she thought about her afternoon spent at Laduree with Serena, enjoying macaroons and tea. She glanced out her window as the cab drove along the tree-lined, cobbled streets of Paris. Briefly, her mind wandered to thoughts of Chuck, but just as quickly, she scolded herself and pushed them aside.

It seemed the universe had its own plan, however, as an image of Chuck stumbling onto the ground appeared before her. It took her a few seconds to realize that it wasn't just her imagination and that she was really seeing Chuck, in the flesh, fall onto the sidewalk corner the cab had just passed.

"Wait!" she shouted to the cab driver, only registering what she was doing after the fact. The cab halted and she quickly opened the door. As soon as her heels hit the pavement, her movements became slow and hesitant.

She inched her way by the fence along the sidewalk until she stood in front of Chuck, who was currently sitting on the sidewalk with his back against the fence. He was holding his side, in what looked like pain, with one hand, while the other hand reached for a cane that was lying a few feet away from him.

Blair bent down to pick up the cane just as Chuck looked up.

"Chuck?"

A look of surprise briefly passed over his face, but he said nothing as he grabbed his cane from her and pulled himself into a standing position.

"Chuck."

He gave her a slight nod, replying, "Waldorf," before turning his back on her and stepping towards the opposite direction.

She stood there for a moment, mouth hanging open, before her curiosity got the best of her and she ran after him.

"Chuck! Wait! Chuck, just stop for a second!" She grabbed his arm that was holding onto the cane to turn his body towards her as he winced in discomfort.

He looked at her, waiting for her to speak. She opened her mouth, but she didn't know which one of the questions that were currently racing through her mind to ask first. Instead, she settled on, "Let me give you a lift."

Chuck shook his head, "No thanks."

"Chuck, I have a cab here."

"I'll be fine."

She rolled her eyes and retorted, "Well, it doesn't look like it."

When he continued his pace, she hurried after him again. "Chuck, come on. God knows I wouldn't offer the ride if I really didn't think you needed it."

He turned to look at her, staring at her exasperated expression before agreeing. "Fine."

They sat inside the cab, silent for the first few minutes after Chuck gave directions to his hotel.

She couldn't stand not knowing what happened to him for a second longer and finally asked what plagued her mind since the moment she saw him. "What happened?"

Chuck was staring out the window, eyes trained on the scenery passing by. "Nothing," he answered, not daring to glance anywhere other than where he was already staring.

"Chuck-"

"It's nothing, Blair."

"How can it be nothing if you're falling down on the sidewalk and carrying a cane?"

"Why do you care? I thought you never wanted me to speak to you or see you again."

Blair looked down in her lap, remembering her last, angry words with him in New York.

"I didn't. I don't. But that doesn't mean I want you hurt."

Chuck gave a slight smirk of disbelief. "Right. I'm pretty sure the only thing you wanted the last time you saw me was for me to get hit by a bus and thus leave the face of this earth."

"That's not true."

He finally looked at her, eyebrows raised, clearly not believing her.

"Well, not really. I mean, yes, I was furious with you, but no matter how much I hate you, I'd never wish anything like that upon you. So just tell me what happened. Why are you limping?"

His swallowed the lump in his throat as he thought of the incident in Prague. He turned to look out the window again before replying, "I was shot."

Blair's eyes widened in surprise, and only realizing a moment too late, her hand shot out to rest on Chuck's arm. "Wh-what?"

He turned to look at the hand resting on his arm before bring his eyes up towards her face. She looked down as she quickly retracted her hand away from him.

"How? When? Where?"

"I was in Prague, walking back to my hotel when two dicks came out of nowhere and mugged me, then shot me."

Blair's eyebrows furrowed as she processed the information. After a couple of seconds, she spoke up, still confused. "But Chuck, why did they shoot you? I don't understand. Didn't you give them your wallet or money. I mean they must have gotten what they wanted..."

Chuck look down in his lap, folding his hands together. "They wanted something else too, but I wasn't giving it to them. I guess shooting me was the only way to get it."

"Chuck, what could be more important than your life? Are you crazy?"

He looked away from her, remaining silent.

"Chuck?"

He whispered, "A ring."

She gave him a bewildered look. "A ring?"

He nodded. He slowly turned his face towards her, his eyes vulnerable and sad as he remembered the exact moment he had realized that the one thing of Blair's that he still had after their fallout was going to be taken from him too. "Your ring," he answered.

"My ring?"

"Yes."

She studied his face, waiting for him to elaborate before everything dawned on her with sudden clarity. She remembered the moment before Dan had walked up to them in the hospital lobby and everything had gone so horribly wrong. Chuck had been professing his apologies to her and telling her about his commitment to do her right, for however long it took, even if it took...forever.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears because what she had thought she lost that day with Chuck was so much more than she had known at the time. She hadn't just lost a boyfriend. She had lost the chance to spend the rest of her life with her true love.

And looking at him now, in clothes that were so very un-Chuck, with a cane balanced against his seat, she realized she had almost lost more than a chance too. She had almost lost him.

The very thought sent a tear sliding down her cheek. "Chuck," she rasped, because it was the only thing she could say with her heart so constricted and her lungs so panicked.

He broke the gaze he had held on her and looked the other way. After a minute, he broke the silence. "I hate you too, you know."

She looked up to his face in shock as he stared out the window.

"I may have been an unambitious, heartless bastard before you, but at least I didn't know this. I didn't know this fucking ache that I carry in my chest everyday just thinking about you. At least my world didn't feel like it was over without you. You just had to come and fucking ruin it all."

He turned to face her suddenly, nostrils flaring, voice low and harsh. "You came and made me feel like I had to love too. You told me you had faith in me, in my ability to love. You said you'd stand by me through anything. And then when I fucked it all up, you were gone. I told you I was going to do it. I knew I was going to mess up. You didn't listen."

Blair continued staring at him, eyes wide and full of tears that were quickly making their way down her face.

"And now? Now I'm an unambitious, heartless bastard again. Just like before. Except now, I know what it's like to wake up next to the love of your life and feel like you're on top of the world, and then have it all taken from you."

He ran his hand through his hair, angry and frustrated. He leaned his head against the window, trying to calm his racing heart.

After a moment, Blair grabbed his hand and laid it over her heart. He turned to follow her movement with his eyes before staring up at her face.

"You are a bastard. A stupid, selfish bastard for making me fall in love with you. I was set on being Nate's girl. I was prepared to wear that Vanderbuilt ring and take on the role I had planned on taking since I was a little girl. But you, you had to go and make me feel things I never planned on feeling. I didn't want to love you. I tried my very hardest not to. But I did. And I almost sold myself to your disgusting, pathetic uncle because I loved you so much. Why do you think I fell in love with you? It wasn't because you were a cold, heartless person. Deep down, Chuck, you're caring, loving, and loyal. You've known me better than anyone else ever has. The problem was never my faith in you and your ability to love. The problem was yours. Whenever you lose sight of the man that I know you are, and resign yourself to thinking so little of yourself, that's when you hurt people. I had just thought that by that point in our relationship, you had believed in yourself, believed in us."

"How can you believe that I'm a good person when I've hurt you so many times?"

Blair used her other hand to rest her palm on Chuck's cheek, then gave him a small smile. "Because as much as I want to hate you, my heart won't let me. And I know, as masochistic as I can be, my heart could never love a cruel man."

The cab slowed to a stop. Chuck took both her hands in his and raised them to his lips. He kissed her knuckles tenderly before looking in her eyes with a fierce determination she had yet to witness from him.

"Blair Waldorf, I promise you, that I won't prove your heart wrong. I know you may not trust me right now, but you will because I will spend the rest of my life, until my last dying breath, trying to regain your trust. And I will be the man you say I am because with you, I'm Chuck Bass and I can do anything. I love you, Waldorf."

He grabbed his cane, paid the cab driver and walked into his hotel. Blair smiled and wiped her tears. "I know you will, Bass. And I love you too."

A/N: So obviously, the premiere goes differently (even though I haven't seen it yet!), but I figure this is what I would want to see, so maybe you guys too? Let me know what you guys think about this little one-shot! :) And any thoughts about the premiere too, if you'd like since I won't be reading your reviews until after I watch the episode (which I'm off to do now!). :p


End file.
